"It's absolutely time right now," he finally continued. "Our guys understand that it starts tonight."

That was the hope and it continues to remain the hope, with the Miami Heat opening their five-game homestand with a 115-89 victory Saturday night over the Memphis Grizzlies at AmericanAirlines Arena, their most-lopsided win of the season.

In the wake of losing eight of their previous nine, including a crushing overtime loss a night earlier on the road to the New Orleans Pelicans, this was about far more than a February victory over a could-care-less opponent.

This was, after 17 consecutive games decided by single digits, the moment that the Heat coach appreciated was time to make a stand.

"It's kind of a relief a little bit," guard Goran Dragic said. "The last 17 games have been close games. Finally, we put together a great game where we were up 20 points, started the home stand well. Hopefully we'll continue that."

So the Heat did, finally able to exhale, as the Grizzlies sat just about every player on their roster with any semblance of name recognition.

Already lacking sidelined Mike Conley, Chandler Parsons, Tyreke Evans and Wayne Selden, the Grizzlies also decided to give center Marc Gasol the night off. It's what teams do when they're racing to the bottom, with the upcoming NBA draft particularly attractive at the top.

"I know what you guys are going to say, 'What's it like to have a game that’s not that close?' " Spoelstra said as he began his postgame media session. "We will take it. But we certainly weren’t expecting it. The way things have been going, we expected this one to go down to the end.

"They're in a totally different situation than we are in. They sat out most of their guys. But for us it’s still about building habits. I was pleased with the approach of our guys and even though they're undermanned playing a lot of young guys, still building habits of holding them to 18 and 19 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. It's something we talked about and were able to do it so that was good to see."

For the Heat, it was about creating a bit more breathing room in the Eastern Conference playoff race, now two games ahead of the No. 9 seed Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference playoff race, with 22 to play.

"We've been in so many close games," guard Tyler Johnson said, "so I think it's good to just finally be able to exhale a little bit."

The Heat were without big man Kelly Olynyk for a sixth consecutive game with a strained left shoulder. He had been upgraded earlier in the day from doubtful to questionable, before Spoelstra confirmed 90 minutes prior to tipoff that Olynyk would be out again.

That again had the Heat opening with Whiteside at center, Winslow at power forward, Josh Richardson at small forward, Tyler Johnson at shooting guard and Dragic at point guard.

Winslow said his scoring came in the rhythm of the offense.

"I mean we didn't run anything differently," he said. "Today the ball was finding me."

The Heat seized control by outscoring the Grizzlies 32-18 in the third period, with Whiteside and Tyler Johnson each scoring nine in the quarter.

The Heat moved to an 11-point lead in the second period and went into halftime up 60-52. Winslow already was up to 13 points by that stage, more than he had scored in the previous four games combined.

The Heat struggled defensively at the outset, allowing the Grizzlies to shoot .591 in the opening period. But with Tyler Johnson scoring 11 in the quarter, the Heat still were able to take a 34-31 lead in the second period.

Dwyane Wade again entered off the bench in a unit that featured Bam Adebayo and James Johnson.

The game concluded the two-game season series. The Heat won the first meeting 107-82 Dec. 11 in Memphis, when seven players scored in double figures, led by Dragic's 19 points, limiting the Grizzlies to .389 shooting. The Heat were without Whiteside in the victory.

The Heat were seeking their first sweep of the two-game season series since 2006-07.

The Heat entered having lost two of the previous three meetings at AmericanAirlines Arena, including 110-107 last season.

The game was the Heat's first at home since Feb. 9, entering just 14-12 at home, including 3-7 against the Western Conference.

The game concluded the Heat's 11th back-to-back set of the season, coming off Friday's overtime loss in New Orleans, with a 4-6 record on the second nights of such sets entering the game.

The Grizzlies also were completing a back-to-back set, coming off Friday's home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Memphis entered 3-8 on the second nights of back-to-back games.

CAPTION

Erik Spoelstra on the Heat's zone defense.

Erik Spoelstra on the Heat's zone defense.

CAPTION

Erik Spoelstra on the Heat's zone defense.

Erik Spoelstra on the Heat's zone defense.

CAPTION

Dwyane Wade on Dion Waiters.

Dwyane Wade on Dion Waiters.

CAPTION

Miami Heat guard Tyler Johnson on bringing the team's mentality on the road back home to AmericanAirlines Arena.

Miami Heat guard Tyler Johnson on bringing the team's mentality on the road back home to AmericanAirlines Arena.